This is only part of our interview with Bryan and Brett from Street Fight on WCRS. If you want get the whole interview, support the show, and receive access to tons of other bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars talk to Bryan Quinby and Brett Pain, cohosts of Street Fight, an anarcho-comedy radio show that airs weekly on WCRS in Columbus, Ohio, and is also available via podcast. We find out how Brett and Bryan got involved in political talk radio, and how their politics have evolved over time. We discuss their past lives as conservatives and what caused them to eventually see both American political parties as not being for them. We ask Brett and Bryan about how having kids has molded their politics as well. Finally, we discuss the importance of understanding where people are coming from and having compassion for their unique situations, and how understanding and compassion are different from tolerating dangerous and reactionary ideas or actions. In order to be successful as a political organizer, you need to be able to change minds, and Brett and Bryan give us some insight into the minds of people we need to bring along in any political revolution.
Follow Brett (@BrettPain) and Bryan (@MurderBryan) on twitter. Also follow their show at @StreetFightWCRS.
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by joined by Imraan Siddiqi. Imraan is a writer, activist and Executive Director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Arizona branch. He's also head of the Islamophobia tracking project Hate Hurts. Imraan explains how Islamophobia manifests in ways that go far beyond mere criticism of Islam, despite what folks like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins would have you believe. He explains how Islam, despite not being a race, is racialized, with non-Muslims falling victim to Islamophobic attacks based on characteristics including race and national origin that are incorrectly perceived as Islamic. We discuss how the war on terror, even when dressed up in liberal rhetoric by politicians like Obama and Clinton, inevitably feeds Islamophobia by implicitly and explicitly devaluing Muslim lives. We also discuss how economic insecurity in working-class rural white communities, as well as in Muslim communities, creates fertile ground for hatred and fear-mongering. Defeating Islamophobia will ultimately require dramatic structural fixes, including ending the war on terror and seriously addressing wealth inequality.
Follow Imraan on twitter at @imraansiddiqi. Also follow @CAIRAZ and @hatehurts_.
This is only part of our interview with Adam Johnson. If you want to hear the rest, support the show and receive access to tons of other bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars talk to Adam Johnson, a prolific media analyst and critic whose work can be found at FAIR, Alternet, and other outlets. We talk about Adam's work chronicling how mainstream media outlets essentially serve as PR firms for government and other powerful interests. Adam talks about the countless and often silly comparisons of Donald Trump to various enemies of the US, in a way that purposefully ignores similarities to other US politicians and foreign allies. We discuss how censorship functions in a liberal democracy, where adversarial writers simply can't find work at mainstream outlets, while true-believers in the status quo see their careers advance quickly. The gang also has a lot of fun in the bonus content which you won't want to miss!
Follow Adam on twitter at @AdamJohnsonNYC.
While we don't recommend listening, here is the "With Her" Hillary Clinton campaign podcast which inspired our cold open for this episode. Seriously though, don't listen. It's really painful. You've been warned.
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars first talk to Dave Zirin, a prolific writer at the intersection of politics and sports and author of Brazil's Dance with the Devil about Brazil's hosting of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics. We ask Dave about the unique factors that make the Rio Olympics horrible for ordinary people in Brazil. Dave also talks about the common defining features of all Olympics: mountains debt taken on to finance the games, displacement of people to make way for Olympic venues, and militarization of local police.
Next, Roqayah and Kumars talk to Robin Jacks and Jonathan Cohn, two co-founders of No Boston 2024, a network of activists that helped defeat Boston's bid to host the 2024 Olympic games. Robin and Jonathan go in-depth on how they were able to help keep the Olympics out of their own backyard. They discuss the importance of having both an inside and an outside organizing strategy, that incorporates mainstream politics with creative protest and direct action. They also highlight the importance of starting to organize early, and identify chokepoints where your effort can be most effective.
Follow Dave (@EdgeofSports), Robin (@caulkthewagon), and Jonathan (@JonathanCohn), three of the #TenPeopleOnTwitter.
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars talk to George Ciccariello-Maher. George is a writer, radical political theorist, and currently Associate Professor of Politics at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has taught radical theory and politics at Drexel, U.C. Berkeley, San Quentin State Prison, and the Venezuelan School of Planning in Caracas. His first book, a history of revolutionary movements in Venezuela entitled We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution, was published in 2013, and he has more books on the way.
We discuss the rise of Chavez in Venezuela, and recent setbacks for the Bolivarian revolution following his death. We examine the reasons for these setbacks, and discuss what other leftist movements can learn from Venezuela. We also discuss other countries in the region including Honduras, and the role of western entities like the US government and the IMF in fighting against leftist gains made in these countries.
Follow George on twitter at @ciccmaher to learn more.